How to judge a cheese by its rind

When it comes to cheese, writes Will Studd, it's one time
when it pays to judge something by its cover.

Look, touch and smell the natural rind growing on the outside of
any artisan or traditional cheese and you'll find important clues
about what lies beneath. With the exception of rindless cheese such
as feta or fresh curd, a protective rind defines the type,
character and maturation of specialist cheese, and provides an
essential guide to its quality and flavour.

Cheesemakers have a diverse variety of rind options to play with.
These include natural rinds containing yeast, mould and bacteria,
traditional natural inert coverings such as charcoal, leaves, cloth
and bark, and modern protective barriers such as plastic and wax.
The rind they choose depends on the type of cheese and how much
control they want over the ripening process.

Many traditional cheeses employ ingenious natural coverings
developed long before refrigeration. Powdered charcoal mixed with
salt, for example, is traditionally used to cover goat's cheese in
France to neutralise surface acidity and encourage the growth of a
protective mouldy blue-grey rind. Plane tree leaves are high in
tannin, which discourages excess mould growth, hence their
practical use in wrapping blue Valdeón in northern Spain. Covering
hard cheese in cloth smeared with lard, meanwhile, is a hallmark of
English territorial cheeses, including Cheddar. It helps to create
a semipermeable rind that allows air to move in and out of the
cheese, releasing moisture and fermenting as it ripens.

The natural rind on surface-mould-ripened soft cheese is a good
example of how a rind provides a guide to selection. The most
popular examples of this type of cheese are covered in a damp
fluffy white mould that smells of mushrooms. The presence of this
predictable modern strain of mould is, for me, cause for caution.
Originally developed for stabilised "double" Brie and Camembert
before being adopted by artisan cheesemakers, it looks impressive
when young, but will inevitably develop a taste like wet cardboard
and a whiff of ammonia as the cheese ripens. The preferred
alternative is a surface-mould-ripened soft cheese covered with a
wrinkled ivory rind, which I consider a sign of more interesting
flavour and texture.

This old-fashioned strain of mould is becoming increasingly
popular. Known as Geotrichum candidum, it has a distinct
yeasty flavour and is recognisable in its purest form on goat's
cheeses such as Holy Goat's La Luna. The downside of this mould is
that it's temperamental, hard to grow and difficult to wrap.
Consequently it's often mixed with more robust modern strains in
mould-ripened soft cow's milk cheese (such as Normandie Camembert)
and signs of its distinctive wrinkle gradually emerge on the
surface of the cheese as it ages.

The reddish orange rind that covers washed- and smeared-rind
cheeses like Pont-l'Évêque, Époisses, Taleggio and Tilsit indicates
the use of a bacteria known as Brevibacterium linens. It's
not important to remember the name, but it's useful to know that
the finest examples of cheese ripened with this bacterium have a
very distinct smelly aroma and mild flavour.

I avoid cheeses with a cracked or excessively wet and sticky rind
- this typically indicates the cheese has not been made well, or
that it's been matured in the wrong conditions and is unlikely to
improve if ripened further.

The natural rinds covering blue cheeses vary from the thick
natural mottled rind of a Stilton to the clean salted rind of
Roquefort, which is protected by foil.

I avoid blue cheese with a discoloured grey soggy rind; chances
are it's been frozen or is past its best.

Traditional types of hard cheese also ripen under a wide variety
of natural rinds. These include the smooth, golden, leathery rind
on Parmigiano-Reggiano, which must be regularly wiped free of mould
contamination, and the hard crusty rinds found on Comté and
Gruyère. Again, I avoid cheeses with a thick rind and a greyish
subcrust - a sure sign the cheese is past its best.

Finally, perhaps the most important rule to remember when judging
a cheese by its rind is to ensure it breathes. Waxed cheese and
rindless block cheeses matured in a plastic vacuum bag are cut off
from fresh air, inevitably resulting in flavours that bear no
resemblance to those found in similar cheese carefully matured
under a natural rind.

Next time you visit your local cheesemonger, check out the rinds
of the cheeses on display; you may well be surprised how they
influence your choice.

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